Former N.H. Supreme Court Justice Nadeau won't pursue Senate run

DURHAM — Former N.H. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Nadeau was in Washington recently, several months after he said he was mulling a run for the U.S. Senate.

But that's where that storyline ends. The town resident confirmed Monday he will not vie for the Democratic nomination.

"I made a determination to remove the kind of stress" that comes with mounting such a campaign, he said in response to a query from Foster's.

About a month ago, on the heels of a routine stress test, the 71-year-old Nadeau had a stent installed to remove blockage in an artery.

The procedure also prompted him to scale back his work as a consultant with a program that he created to train Indonesian judges and help restore trust in that country's judiciary.

Nadeau, who retired from the bench in 2005, said the medical procedure won't relegate him to a hammock, "but I think there are some ultra Type A ambitious things I can remove."

The campaign, which would have been his first for elected office, was one of them.

The decision leaves Democrats with one declared candidate for the 2010 Senate election, when New Hampshire voters will pick a successor to Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who is retiring at the end of his 18-year Senate run.

Nadeau was adamant that his decision had nothing to do with Democrats wanting to clear the field for U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., who's campaigning for Gregg's seat.

"That is not something I would have participated in," said Nadeau, who was nominated to the state Supreme Court in 2000 after he served as chief justice of the Superior Court for eight years.

Nadeau said overall he's in good health, and he signaled he'll feel even better after he cuts salt out of his diet.

And as for his recent trip to Washington, he met with the chief justice of Iraq, who, along with others, is "trying to manage the court system under adverse circumstances."